reminders.

if you walked through our home, you might not be able to identify my type of decor or place my style, but i'd simply tell you…stories. reminders. that's my style. what adorns our mantle and bookshelves and walls tell stories. serve as reminders.

the snowflakes hang upon home decor. they're not the melting kind. they are reminders that it was a conversation 4 years ago when elijah gave his heart to Jesus. a school snow day in the midwest, we cut paper snowflakes out while younger brothers napped. the snow fell white, soft, pure, glorious. the days old slush would soon hit the curb brown, dirty, unpleasant. we talked about the purity of Christ and the sin that entangles our hearts. comparing pure snow with old slush. the snowflakes are our reminders.

we want them to look back at their childhood and remember. remember picnic nights and board games. hikes through the urban forests and adventures through the city. trips to visit cousins and grandparents and victory dances in the privacy of our home. the pressed leaves framed over the couch are reminders. reminders of a wet cold hike through the pacific northwest mountains. leaves larger than their faces. leaves that still smell like seattle air when we breathe in the living room.

Lamentations 3.19-24 says, “Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’”

the picture speaks for itself. a day of celebrating as our son was baptized before his friends and church family. declaring "I am His and He is mine." our church gifts these framed memories as reminders.

it sits like a trophy upon my shelf. the golden colored lid screwed tight to the jar. shattered black pieces of glass fill the jar. pieces from the back right window of our brand new mini-van. shattered by the abrupt smash of a stick, an elbow, a madness to take what was in the backpack laying in view in the back seat. you might be thinking, “what sick person stashes away broken glass as a reminder?” you might also be thinking, “where were you when you got broken into?” i'm the sick person that keeps broken glass as a reminder upon my shelf and i was blocks from our church downtown. parked in plain view of dozens of people walking back and forth on the sidewalk by the van. me and the boys had found a great free spot for two hours so we could visit with a person on our church staff who was soon to have a baby. every time I look at the broken glass i see the enemy’s tactics bottled up and contained. i see them suffocated from ever having power over me. i see Joseph’s life and hear the familiar truth: what man intended for evil, God will use for good. {Genesis 50.20} the broken glass is a reminder.

the Scriptures speak of bread and wine as reminders for what Christ did for us on the cross.

Samuel of the Old Testament set a stone and named it "the stone of help," for God had helped them against their enemy. an ebenezer stone. a reminder.

you and i both have reminders on our trees at Christmas. reminders of a child's first Christmas. reminders of a trip we were fortunate to take. reminders of a child's imagination through a homemade ornament.

"people need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed." CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

our spouses, our kids, our friends when they come over. they notice these reminders. reminders tell a story. reminders become etched in the frames of all hearts.

what reminders do you have in your home? which ones speak to the grace and love of Christ?